Mooring gear for airships



Mar. 13,1923. 4 1,448,089 I G. H. SCOTT MOORING GEAR FOR AIRSHIPS I Fi led Aug. 22, 1921 Ssheets-sheet 1 Mar. 13, 1923.

cs. H. SCOTT MOORING GEAR FOR AIRSHIPS 2 sheets-sheet Filed Aug. 22, 1921 Patented Mar. 13, 1923.

mooning GEAR roe nasmrs.

Application filed August 22, 1921. Serial No. 494,168.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen HERBEn'r Soorr, a subject of the King of Great Br1t-" ain, residing in Beckenham, Kent,England, have invented certain newand useful. Improvements in Mooring Gears for Airships, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in mooring mast gear for airships of thetype wherein the fitting on the bow of the ship is coupled, with the aid of a mast wire or the like, to a fitting carried at the masthead, as for example at the upper end of an uprising lever mounted on the masthead with facility of limited listing movement in any direction about a neutral point under the restraining action of resilient means or of the tension of the mast wire or mooring cable, as described in the specification of my application for British Letters Patent No. 2652 dated 20th January 1921.

According to the present invent1on, the mooring gear comprises a mast which may be but is not necessarily of the typeafora said, combined with means for anchoring side guys attached to the bow of the ship to the ground at any selected pair of points, respectively on the port and starboard sides of the ship. The anchor points are arranged as a series usually but not necessarily equispaced apart and from and lying around the mast as a centre in different directions from it. The mooring gear also comprises means for hauling the ship down by the guys so that their length between the ships bow and the selected anchor points to which they are connected is equal to the distance from the coupling on the upper end of the mast lever to the selected anchor points. When the mast wire is hauled in to engage the couplings on the ships bow and the mast lever, the side guys steady the ships bow against lateral hunting movement.

The side guys are attached to the nose of the ship as near as convenient to the point to which the ship landing wire is attached. 4

The invention is illustrated in one form in plan and elevation respectively in Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings. As therein shown the means for anchoring the ships side guys 9 to the ground comprise a number of fixed anchor points 3 arranged around the circle with the mast A as a centre. or they may comprise a circular rail or. track with the mast as a centre and two trolleys or the like adapted to be moved round the track and anchored anywihere thereon. A convenient radial distance for the anchor points or track is, say, 500 feet. A winch 5 with two barrels (or two separate winches) is placed at or near the foot of the mast, and ground wires 2 pass from the barrels, over leading blocks 4, if necessary, to

any two selected anchor points or to the two trolleys. At the anchor points or on the trolleys leading or snatch blocks are secured through which the ground wires are rove.

Assuming that the ship 6 is approaching the mast from any direction in light trim at some distance above it, the landing wire 1 on the ships bow is first connected with the mast wire 8 in a customary manner, as by shackles indicated by the numeral 7, and the ship isallowed to ride up on the single wire. The two side guys 9 are now let down from the nose of the ship, and the mast wire 8 is hauled in until these touch the ground. The ground wires 2 are then led from the winch "or winches through the suitably placed leading blocks 4 near thereto and at the selected anchor points or on the two trolleys, and the ends of the ground wires are brought together at the points on the ground, where the lower ends of the side guys 9 are resting, and are attached to the latter, as by shackles 7 The two anchor points used are chosen in, or moved to such positions on the leeward side of the mast as indicated in Fig. 1, that lines joining them to the foot of the mast make preferably an obtuse angle of, say, 120, with 'each other, and alsoin such position that the direction of the wind approximately bisects such angle.

The side guys are then hauled in by the winch barrels, while the mast wire is similarly hauledin-until the lengthof the side' guys between the ships nose and the two selected anchor points or trolleys is equal to the distance from the coupling on the upper end of the mast lever to such anchor points, as aforesaid.

The mast wire is then hauled in further until the couplings on the nose of the ship 1 wire ends 2 to the lower ends of the ships side guys 9, should be leeward of the baseline joining the two selected anchor points,

while such vertical line, when the hauling in of the side guys is complete, should be to windward of said base-line.

Having thus fully described the nature of the said invention and the best means I.

15 tant from the mast, mooring lines attached to the bow of the airship, and passing around said anchor points-to securing means, and means for hauling in said mooring lines, substantially as described.

2. Mooring gear for airships according to claim 1, wherein means are provided for p0- sitioning two anchor points substantially equidistant from the direction of the wind, on either side thereof, substantially as described. c

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification. Y

GEORGE HERBERT SCOTT.

Witness:

T. J OSMAN. 

